Silence
by Leonineus
Summary: Naruto falls against Sasuke, and Hinata is left grieving. Based upon the beautiful AMV by KanameLPfan on YouTube, and set to the tune of Forgiven by Within Temptation (though not actually a songfic!). Warnings: Angst, Violence, Suicide, etc, etc.


Silence

 **(A/N: So this is based off one of the best NaruHina AMVs I've seen, titled on YouTube as NaruHina Shippuuden - Silence "I will follow your voice, so please talk to me." It's a very sad AMV by KanameLPfan, and the choice of song (Forgiven by Within Temptation) makes it a very haunting and beautiful piece, and I would recommend putting the song on repeat as you read. I decided to give novelising it a go. Enjoy!)**

"And this time, I'm going to kill you on a whim."

Naruto glared at Sasuke as his former teammate drew his sword, flipping a kunai of his own into his hand before charging.

Lightning chakra surged through Sasuke's sword, easily bypassing the kunai… and Naruto's eyes widened as there was a spray of blood.

The kunai fell from limp fingers as Naruto struggled to remain standing, struggled to ignore the agonising pain in his chest as he glared at Sasuke.

Sasuke simply sniffed and shoved Naruto backwards off the tip of his katana, the Uzumaki landing heavily on his back with blood pouring down his front. The last thing he saw before his vision faded to black was Sasuke standing over him, still with his lightning-sheathed katana in hand.

-S-

It was late September in Konoha, and the weather reflected Tsunade's mood as she stood at the window of her office, gazing out across the village.

"He had been seperated from the others," she said, knowing Shizune was standing somewhere behind her, "And in the end, he couldn't find who he was looking for."

She sighed. First Jiraiya, and now the closest thing to a grandson she had? Why?

"Killed… by his best friend."

An image flashed across her mind; the other's reactions when Naruto's body had been brought in. In particular, Hinata's expression of mute horror.

The day of the funeral came. Naruto's casket was lowered into his grave, and covered over. Tsunade stood beside it with Neji, Shizune and Iruka. Sakura knelt before the gravestone, too inconsolable in her grief to say a word. Behind Iruka, Hinata stood. She simply gazed at the headstone, too immersed in grief for tears, too filled with sorrow for words.

She stood beside the gravestone long after everyone had gone, simply gazing the Konoha hitai-ate tied around one corner. Naruto's hitai-ate.

 _"Liar,"_ she thought, bitterness flavouring the words, _"You said you'd come back safely."_ She closed her eyes.

She remembered the words as though she'd heard them only yesterday. _"It'll be fine,"_ he had reassured her, _"I'll definitely be back in time for my birthday. I promise!"_

She sank to her knees, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"It wasn't your fault," she hiccuped, reading out and tracing her fingers over the words etched into the stone, "I don't have the right to call you a liar. I'm sorry."

 _"You don't need to apologise,"_ she could almost hear him say, then more and more pressed in on her mind.

 _"And Hinata? Will Hinata be okay?"_

 _"Really?"_

 _"Why did you mentally attack Hinata then, when she was trying her best?"_

"Stop," she whispered pleadingly.

 _"Thank you, Hinata,"_

 _"Please… stop!"_

 _"You! What did you do to Hinata?!"_

She brought her hands up to her head, rocking back and forth as his words continued to echo in her ears, trying to block them out, trying not to hear them.

 _"HINATA!"_

She screamed, feeling like she were falling down a deep pit into blackness, and then there was nothing.

-S-

She had woken lying in her bed back at the Hyūga estate, Neji bending over her. He had been waiting outside the cemetery, waiting for her, and had heard her scream. He had arrived just in time to catch her as she fainted.

October passed. Hinata spent Naruto's entire birthday kneeling at his graveside, lighting stick after stick of incense, heedless of the onsetting winter chill or the autumn wind that kept blowing fallen leaves against her where she sat.

Then November came and gave way to December in its turn, Hinata again coming by every week to light a stick of incense. She knew the others were becoming worried about her behaviour, but she did not heed them, immersing herself in memories of Naruto.

She came to his graveside just as the winter chill blew in for real, ignoring the freezing temperature as she sat with a picture of him smiling and laughing at some long forgotten remark in her lap, gazing at it.

 _"And what if Sasuke-kun kills you?"_ she remembered asking, as a bouquet of flowers sat in front of her.

Naruto's set face swam before her eyes, _"This sounds as if you didn't believe in me."_

 _"I- I do!"_ she had stammered then.

 _"I promise,"_ the words rang in her ears long after she had finally gone home for the night.

-S-

"Did you see Hinata?"

Kiba's voice. She had avoided her team, avoided her sensei, ever since Naruto's death.

"Crap! Isn't there _anything_ we can do?"

She saw him round on Shino, but the quiet Aburame simply shook his head, "Kiba, you know…"

"...she doesn't talk since he died."

Hinata fought back another sob, trying to tell herself she had long since exhausted any tears she had to give.

"Naruto…"

A brief mental image of Naruto appeared before her, on his knees, bleeding on the end of Sasuke's blade. It was too much; she had to escape!

Kiba and Shino simply watched as she ran out of sight, knowing where she would be going.

Reaching Naruto's graveside, she fell to her knees before it and stayed there long into the night.

-S-

Sakura walked through the graveyard the next morning, her own flowers in her arms. She was bringing them for Naruto, and had just turned the corner when she saw Hinata huddled before his grave, looking as though she had been there for many hours.

"Hinata!" she let the flowers fall as she hurried to her fellow kunoichi, the hollow-eyed Hyūga turning briefly to look at her.

"I-I'm alright-"

"No!" Sakura said firmly, "You're frostbitten!"

Hinata did not seem to hear her.

"Don't worry," she said to the gravestone, "I'll stay with you, Naruto-kun."

Sakura looked down briefly, not sure of what to say.

"It's hard to lose a precious person," she said finally, "And to know, no matter what you do, some will never return."

"I… will…" Hinata said finally, allowing Sakura to lead her away, the last words of her promise spoken only to herself.

-S-

Winter set in deeper and deeper on Konoha. Hinata had become somewhat better, returning to light shinobi duties. She was walking back from training one afternoon, when the wind picked up and she paused.

 _"Hinata,"_ the wind seemed to say, and she turned in surprise, half-hoping to see Naruto walking towards her, but being disappointed once again by the empty street, _"I'm sorry!"_

She cast her eyes skyward.

 _"I… I broke my promise… Forgive me."_

"Naruto-kun," she whispered.

-S-

She shut herself in her room again that night, picture of him in hand, replaying over and over again the conversation she knew he and Tsunade had had before he left on that fateful mission this past September.

"Let me go on that mission, baa-chan!"

"You're not skilled enough to bring him back!" Shizune had said firmly, all unaware of Hinata waiting outside to get her next assignment.

Naruto's voice calm, measured, "I don't give Sasuke up, you know,"

Tsunade scoffing, "Do whatever you want."

She had left then, and awaited to greet him at the gates for the last words they would ever share.

-S-

Her birthday came, and after a subdued celebration she had slipped away to return to Naruto's graveside. His hitai-ate was still there, the strands of its band still flapping in the cold winter wind, and Hinata gazed at it with renewed resolve in her eyes.

Sakura's words resounded in her head from earlier in the month.

 _"And to know no matter what you do, some will never return."_

 _"I will…"_ she had said then, and as Hinata drew a single kunai from inside her coat, she reaffirmed those words to herself, knowing she had fulfiled her promise that she had only half spoken aloud, "...be back for my birthday."

She gripped the kunai resolutely, tilting it towards herself.

The wind picked up, and she could almost hear him.

 _"No! Please… don't!"_

Hinata took a knee, raising a hand to wipe away her last tears.

"I can't…" she whispered, as much for her benefit as his, "...live without you."

She shook her head, leaned back, and gripped the kunai.

 _"HINATA!"_

She slid the kunai home, and everything faded to black.

And all of a sudden, she was free. She felt as though she was flying, flying upwards away from the graveyard into the winter sky.

A comforting presence, almost a warmth, seemed to touch her, and she knew instinctively who it was as it enveloped her and held her tight, never to let go again.

She fancied, briefly, she could almost feel his smooth, warm skin beneath her fingertips, almost see his blue eyes gazing back at her.

Then it felt llike he had taken her hand, and she allowed him to pull her away, and they left the world behind.

-S-

The scene was much the same as it had been at the end of September, except that Sakura stood quietly beside her teacher, while Neji stood before the grave, an expression midway between grief and anger on his face.

Tsunade's eyes tracked from the newer grave to its neighbour, the name still starkly standing out on the three-month-old headstone.

 **Uzumaki Naruto**

Her eyes turned back to the newer grave, and its own name.

 **Hyūga Hinata**

Akamaru, sitting beside his master, gave a mournful howl.

Kiba reached over and scratched his ears, still gazing up at the sky.

Shino had said nothing for the entire service, looking towards the distant trees as though lost in thought.

Kurenai, sitting in her home, sighed, gazing at two pictures side by side.

One, her team. Her standing at the back, her three students gathered before her with Hinata in the centre.

The other, a picture she had been given by Hiashi. It showed Hinata's last birthday. Naruto and Hinata stood together smiling. Hinata looked the happiest that Kurenai had ever seen her.

Rising, she walked to the window, gazing out at the evening dusk.

Then it caught her eye. An arc of silvery light crossing the heavens, a shooting star leaving behind its ghostly trail as it passed by.

Kurenai nodded as though it had given her all the answers she needed.

"You're with him now, aren't you Hinata?" she murmured, and a breeze rustled the plants in her window bed.

"I'm glad."

 _Fin._

 **(A/N: So as I said above, this is based on a beautiful AMV I watch quite frequently. I highly recommend watching it. You can easily find it by typing "Silence Naruto Shippuuden" into YouTube and looking for an entry with the title from the top A/N.**

 **Anyway, story update. Still running into more fics than I can actually find the time to write at the moment, particularly with a full-time job. Might update my Previews collection with a few new additions at some point, so stay tuned there.**

 **Also a bit of a shameless plug; be any of you gamers, look up SciMAX Radio on Google from 5-7PM EST (10-12PM GMT) tonight, as I host a radio show called Gamer's Rave on Saturday nights, in which I do game reviews, open discussions on certain topics and more. I also have a Facebook page for the show, where you can drop questions or topics you'd like to see discussed on the program. You can also find the station on TuneIn Radio, which can be downloaded onto either a smartphone or a Windows 8 PC.**

 **Anyway, enough chatter from me. Leonineus, out.)**


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